Health Food With Manly Packaging Attempts To Lure New Demographic

As men take greater responsibility for grocery shopping and meal preparation in their households, food makers are trying to get them to buy products that they would have previously avoided like the plague. Greek and frozen yoghurt are two specific products that have been given a makeover aimed specifically at men – the hope being that these two “female-friendly” items will make it home with the weekly shop.

Changes to these types of products are largely cosmetic, with larger portions and darker color schemes giving them a more “manly” appearance. Lu Ann Williams, head of research for Netherlands-based Innova Market Insights, goes into more detail about why some products appeal so much to men, and why others don’t even get a second look.

A beer or soda in a long-necked, brown bottle makes a man feel like a man. Drinking out of a straw does not—puckered lips and sunken cheeks are not a good guy look.

Powerful Yogurt is a Greek yogurt that launched in March to appeal to men, their packaging features a bull’s head symbol on red-and-black background with an image of stomach muscles and the slogan: “Find Your Inner Abs.” A single-serving is also much larger than the typical five to six ounces, weighing in at a mighty eight ounces and packed with 20 to 25 grams of protein.

Another product that launched in August is Pro Yo, a frozen yogurt geared specifically for men. Nathan Carey, founder of Twin Cups LLC, the company that makes Pro Yo, noticed that most of his frozen-yogurt kiosk customers were women. Selling to men was a little harder as they weren’t interested in the fact his product was low-fat, but if they were told ” [it] tastes like a premium ice cream, it’s high in protein and has live active cultures,” then it was a different story altogether.